Tom Lea:

An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Center

Creator

Lea, Tom, 1907-2001

Title:

Tom Lea Papers

Dates:

1889-1974 (bulk 1937-1974)

Abstract:

These papers consist primarily of notes,
manuscripts, page proofs, drawings, and layouts for several of Lea's fiction and
non-fiction works. Also included is correspondence concerning editing and publication
issues. The Ransom Center's Art Collection contains a large number of Lea's paintings
and drawings>

Tom Lea, artist and writer, was born in El Paso, Texas on July 11, 1907. After
displaying a natural aptitude for painting and drawing as a child, Lea received formal
training at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1924 to 1926 and as apprentice and
assistant to the Chicago muralist John Norton from 1927 to 1932. In 1930, Lea traveled
to Italy to study the techniques of Renaissance wall painting. One of his early murals
"The Nesters," painted in the
Post Office Department Building in Washington, D. C., won a national competition in
1935. There followed a commission to paint the mural, "Pass of the North," in the United States Court House in El
Paso. J. Frank Dobie commissioned Lea to illustrate two of his books from this period,
Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver (1939)
and The Longhorns (1940). During World
War II, Life magazine hired Lea as a
combination war correspondent-artist to cover the war in the Pacific.

Lea's experiences during the war supplied him with ample material as a writer, leading
to the publication of A Grizzly from the Coral
Sea (1944) and Peleliu Landing
(1945). Lea's lifelong friend Carl Hertzog, a book designer, printed both books
as well as Lea's Bullfight Manual for
Spectators (1949). After the war, Lea began to write fiction, including
The Brave Bulls (1949), The Wonderful Country (1952), The Primal Yoke (1960), and The Hands of Cantú (1964). The Brave Bulls won the Carr P. Collins
Award of the Texas Institute of Letters for best book by a Texan, and The Hands of Cantú won the Texas
Institute's Jesse Jones Award for the best work of fiction by a Texan. Both The Brave Bulls and The Wonderful Country were produced as motion pictures. Lea
continued to write non-fiction, including the two-volume The King Ranch (1957), A Picture Gallery (1968), and an account of King Ranch
operations in Australia, In the Crucible of the
Sun (1974).

As an artist, Lea was commissioned by Life
magazine in 1946 to paint a series of canvases depicting Western cattle, which
Life presented to the Dallas Museum
of Fine Arts. In 1953, the University of Texas Press published Tom Lea: a Portfolio of Six Paintings with an Introduction by J.
Frank Dobie. Lea's first large exhibition was mounted in 1961 at the Fort
Worth Art Center. Lea has also had exhibitions at the El Paso Museum of Art and the
Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio. Tom Lea died in 2001 in El Paso.

The Fiction series includes material relating to The Brave Bulls, The Hands of Cantú, The Primal Yoke, and
The Wonderful Country. The Brave Bulls
includes typed and handwritten notes and a typed and handwritten biography of
the fictional bullfighter Luis Bello Garcia. The bulk consists of background material,
including typescripts of Spanish-language bullfighting articles, a typescript titled
"The Land of Gold," a guidebook,
a typescript article and notes on the Spanish bullfighter Manolete, photographs and
other images of bullfighters, a photograph and other images of the Virgin Mary,
correspondence, a pamphlet titled "Cantares
Flamencos," programs, tickets, advertisements, and invitations. The Hands of Cantú material consists of
notes, a drawing, galleys, a typescript printer's copy, incomplete page proofs, a
pasteup and proof of the dust jacket, and correspondence. The Primal Yoke material includes galleys, a page proof,
proofs and pasteups of chapter headings, and a mockup of the dust jacket. The Wonderful Country is represented by
notes, a point outline by Bob Parrish, a story outline, shot sequences, a typescript of
the screenplay by Maurice Zimm, typescripts of the screenplay by Tom Lea,
correspondence, and a map drawn by Tom Lea.

The Non-Fiction series includes material relating to the Bullfight Manual for Spectators, the Calendar of Twelve Travelers through the Pass of the North,
the Exhibition of Preliminary Drawings
for a Mural in the Lobby of the United States Court House, El Paso, Texas by Tom Lea, In the Crucible of the Sun, The King Ranch, Peleliu Landing, A Picture Gallery, and Westward Bound: a Hundred Years Ago. The
material for the Bullfight Manual
includes a pasteup, page proofs, a proof copy, and both small and large format
printed copies. The Calendar includes a
printed sheet, a handwritten draft of "El
Paso del Norte," a typescript, a page proof, a proof of the illustration
"Don Diego de Vargas, the
Warrior," and a menu. The Exhibition of
Preliminary Drawings includes the exhibition catalog and correspondence. For
In the Crucible of the Sun, there
are a corrected typescript, typescript photocopies, typescript captions for the
illustrations, two layouts, page proofs, an unbound proof copy, a sketchbook,
photographic transparencies, an illustration layout, proofs of illustrations, and
correspondence. The King Ranch includes
a typescript with chapters 1 and 2 in page proof, instructions to the printer, typed
footnotes, incomplete page proofs, a prospectus, and correspondence. The Peleliu Landing material consists of two
notebooks, U. S. Navy and U. S. S. Ormsby documents,
typescripts of a poem and songs written by marines and sailors, photocopies of drawings,
photographic negatives, Japanese postcards, military identification cards, an aerial
photograph of Peleliu, and correspondence. A
Picture Gallery consists of lists of illustrations for Life and the Saturday Evening Post, laid in a binding. Westward Bound is represented by page proofs and
correspondence. In addition, there is a proof copy of a program titled "Fort Bliss One-hundredth Anniversary
1848-1948"with pageant and parade instructions and correspondence; a typescript
essay, "Homer Lea," as well as
clippings; a typescript titled "A Report
from the Advisory Commission on Church Art and Ornamentation [by the] Diocese of New
Mexico and Southwest Texas" and correspondence; a leaflet titled "Art and Religion: a Symposium on the New
Encounter"; and a pamphlet titled "Stained Glass Designs of McKee Chapel in the Church of Saint
Clement," including a program from the church, drawings of the window designs,
and a pasteup for the pamphlet.

The correspondence is primarily professional in nature, concerning textual suggestions
from colleagues and details of publication. The correspondence from Carl Hertzog touches
on the design and production of the books on which he and Lea collaborated. The
correspondence from Robert Parrish suggests improvements to the screenplay The Wonderful Country.

Some of the material in the collection was separated by format upon receipt by the
HRHRC. Please consult the following HRHRC collections for further Tom Lea materials:
Art, Books, Personal Effects, and Vertical File.

Lists of illustrations for Life and
the Saturday Evening Post, undated

Container

7.2

Empty slipcase for original manuscript, with calligraphic
explanatory note, undated

Container

7.3, gf

Empty slipcase for author's set of galleys, undated

Container

7.4

"A Report from the Advisory Commission on Church Art
and Ornamentation [by the] Diocese of New Mexico and Southwest
Texas," typescript and correspondence, 1954; leaflet titled "Art and Religion: a Symposium on the New
Encounter," 1953

Container

7.5

"Stained Glass Designs of McKee Chapel in the Church
of Saint Clement" [pamphlet], program, Church of Saint Clement, 1953;
drawings for stained glass windows, undated; pasteup for the pamphlet, 1953

Container

osf

One drawing for stained glass windows

Container

7.6

Westward Bound: a Hundred Years Ago [book by
George Catlin illustrated by Tom Lea]. Page proofs and correspondence, 1939,
undated